NASA's Curiosity rover sends back first color images from Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover vehicle, that landed on Mars on August 6th, has sent back its first color images of the planet's dusty yellow/orange landscape. The image was taken with the camera on the rover's still retracted robotic arm, from behind the dust shield designed to protect the camera. The dust shield will be removed, promising better images, once the dust kicked-up by its landing has settled. This camera, known as MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager), is primarily intended for examining close-up items. Still better images should come once the two Mastcams start sending back images.

The first color image from the Curiosity rover on Mars. The image was shot from using the camera on the rover's robotic arm and is angled because that arm is still retracted. The image has been overlayed onto a computer rendering of the landscape, based on data from orbiting craft.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

All three cameras are built around Kodak KAI-2020CM sensors - 2MP CCD chips very similar in size to the 1" type sensors used in Nikon's 1 System and Sony's DSC-RX100. These 11.8 x 8.9mm sensors are now made by Truesense Imaging - the company spun-out of Kodak in 2011. The All three are equipped with standard Bayer filters, allowing them to capture color images in a single shot.

The KAI-2020 sensors used by the rover's main cameras, now made by Truesense Imaging

The MAHLI camera has a 21.3mm (60mm equiv.) lens, though its effective field-of-view narrows to nearer 70mm equiv, F9.8 when working at its closest focus distance of 25mm. To allow working at such close range, the unit is equipped with two white LEDs and two ultraviolet LEDs, to allow it to test for fluorescence. The filters on MAHLI mean that, much like a conventional camera, it is only sensitive to visible light (in this instance, a 380–680nm range). MAHLI is designed to focus-stack images shot at different focus points, to maximise depth-of-field.

An artist's impression of the Curiosity rover, showing the rough positions of the three primary imaging cameras.

The two Mastcams, built onto the rover's main mast, are much more sophisticated units. Although based around the same sensors, these have no IR filter, so are sensitive across the visible and near-infrared region of the spectrum. The cameras each include 9 filters that can be swapped in and out, to allow them to assess very specific colors and include 'clear' IR filters, to allow them to take full-color images.

The Mastcams feature the same underlying design, including a Filter Wheel containing nine filters that can be slotted into place to measure different light frequencies in the scene.

The two cameras differ in terms of the prime lens they're fitted with. Lens distortions mean their images are likely to be 1200 x 1200 pixels taken from the middle of each frame. Mastcam 34 features a 115mm equivalent F8 lens, while the Mastcam 100 uses a 343mm equivalent F11 lens. In addition to thier specific color filters, each has a more dense color filter to allow images to be shot while pointing towards the sun.

A test image shot from Malin Space Science System's cleanroom, showing the full 1648 x 1200 pixel output of the Mastcam 34. Only the central 1200 x 1200 region of the image would be used.Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Both cameras are able to capture 720p video at around 7 frames per second, and the Mastcam 34 can be used to shoot 360 degree panoramas of the rover's current position (taking 150 images over a 25 minute period as the remote mast is rotated). The operating team says it might use the rover's movement to create cinematic tracking shots of the Martian landscape.

Each camera features 8GB of storage and can broadcast thumbnail images, so that time isn't spent transmitting every image at full resolution, back from the surface of Mars. To ensure images don't all come back with a yellow/orange tinge, Curiosity features color calibration and white-balance targets that the cameras can be pointed at.

The calibration target used by MAHLI, including a 1909 Lincoln penny and color targets, including a fluorescent pigment that glows red under UV light. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

It had been hoped that zoom lenses would be used for the Mastcams, but minor precision failures meant they weren't ready in time for the mission's launch. Malin Space Science Systems, the San Diego, California company that developed all the rover's cameras, has said it will continue to work on the lenses for future projects.

They just successfully landed a vehicle that will drive around on the surface of Mars, analyse data and send pictures back we could only dream of when we walked on the moon in 1969......you have to trust they know what they are doing.

Better get back to the Nikanon next generation rumour mill, you have more chance of being listened to in there! :)

Men are from Mars, Women from Venus. Everything's clear now, poor Mr President who has been duped by some pimp from the outer space...

My God ! If the E.T he secretly met was not from Venus, did he took "this E.T from Mars" for a femal ? Consequently, what was the organ he shook so vigourously ? A hand, really ? With just one finger ? Oh my, something's rotten somewhere...

Yes, and you can thank your favorite camera manufacturer for the fact that their high-end camera technology cannot be used for science. Scientists need to know exactly what their equipment is doing, and the major commercial manufacturers won't tell - not even to NASA. And so scientists have to go to smaller manufacturers that are willing to cooperate and release full info.

It's a compelling idea that scientists should have the best equipment available. Unfortunately, commercial interests cannot be compromised.

Probably because there was no proposal to do so. For sure Nikon would be so happy to provide a perfectly good sensor/lens to the NASA, imagine the free promotion for it's brand it would represent !

That said, I'm not angry the NASA uses Kodak sensors first as I like a lot that company, and second because Japanese are used to work essentially for the Japan Inc excluding as much as they can any foreign companies from their businesses. Sometimes they have to be aware they are not always the best ones in technology neither absolutely indispensables.

This lists the hazard cameras and navigational cameras. It then lists the descent camera (not discussed in this article, but based on the same sensor), and then the three cameras covered here. All the main imaging cameras are 1600 x 1200 pixels.

Abe "Friggen" Lincoln on MARS!!!! It doesn't get better than that! And to think only last month he was a Vampire slayer! I am rather sad that unlike the Viking landers from 1976, which had US flag decals on them that could be seen in the photos, this lander apparently is generic, sans nationality. Don't think the Russians or Chinese would do that if this was their Billion dollar hardware.

"Four score and 92 million miles ago, our forefathers forgot their patriotism..."

Ya know, today many express serious regrets that the early Voyager probes gave directions to Earth and diagrams of male and female anatomy. If an experienced, obviously more advanced space-faring species comes across it, should we have given our home address? Probably not. Maybe without a flag plastered over every scare inch of Curiosity, a space-faring species that encounters it will head for China.

Looks to me like we need some repeaters in orbit across the solar system to improve bandwidth!! I`d love to be seeing medium format 80 megapixel shots :DOr semi live video footage of space craft and rovers across the solar system!

From the sensor makers, http://www.truesenseimaging.com/news-and-events/34-msl-landing:"MastCam-100 [based on a 1600x1200px sensor] can detect an object about the size of 2 golf balls from a distance of 1 km."Do these figures make any sense, even taking into account local (martian air to glass) refractive indexes and whatnot?Could they be relying on some kind of mechanical oversampling, namely by shifting the sensor by a fraction of the pixel pitch and then re-shooting?Or is it 2019 Esper tech (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkcU0gwZUdg) came true in 2012?

Hi Mr. Coin Dealer. My name is Ernie Squidmore, and I'm a NASA Engineer. I would like to buy 2 of your most expensive pennies so we can send it all the way to Mars. Why? Just gimme the damn pennies or I'll write equations on your forehead!

Do you realize that Mars is a fairly high radiation environment, that the communications budget is very limited and that the processing power is very limited? With those 2MP sensors, they will still send back a lot of images as jpeg only! Raw "costs" too much.

Apologies, I misread the caption. So the calibration target for the single MAHLI and so just the one penny then. Definitely worth a mint in that case as the rarest coin in the universe as the only one ever on another planet.

There's no "S" under the date, so it is not the famous "S-VDB" 1909 penny which is the only one of that year worth much. A regular 1909 penny in circulated condition is worth a couple of dollars, and that's what it looks like they are using.

The truth is that at first the item used for the calibration was an old Tracy Lords' picture that the project director hold as a mascot in his wallet. But ultimely the photographs disappeared mysteriously and there was nothing else at hand than a penny to fullfill the urging needs of the mssion.

Some thoughts on the use of a physically large 2 MP sensor - Mars is more than twice as far from the sun as the earth is, so it gets less than 1/4 of the light. The 16 MP BSI CMOS sensor and the processor in my P&S camera do create artifacts, which reduces the effective resolution as well as the reliability of the information content. The failure rate of new consumer cameras has been quoted as 2 to 4% - clearly not acceptable when you cannot exchange the camera once it leaves the ground. They use prime lenses of different focal lengths, which reduces the need for cropping. The lead time for curiosity was a number of years, not six months.

Great to see the tech that is being used on Mars.Shows what they have to take into account to make all this work. Where corners can be cut to meet other demands.I especially like the calibration card with the penny on it :) LOL.

The camera need to withstand solar radiation- the cameras we flew (and are still onboard) the space station crapped out after about 2 years- ionizing radiation causes 'latching', resulting in the steady accumulation of hot pixels.

I couldn't find clear evidence of who made the CCDs, possibly Kodak. In any case, it's most likely a rad-hardened CCD chip, which is also why it's not a (high end) consumer grade chip.

The 2.5 BILLION dollar project uses cameras sporting a whole 2 megapixes? Oh, the image is murky because the camera's removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover's terminal descent. I guess they didn't take into account Mars might have some dust. That's 2,500 million dollars. Dang, if that Nikon 800 didn't have that focus issue....

Sheesh.. Ignorance is bliss! your fancy Nikon would fail by the minute they leave the Earth atomsphere, not to mention to stand an 8 month travel IN THE SPACE and land on Mars. Horses for courses, for this course, this 2MP sensor truces your fancy ass consumer DSLR no end

"Nikon 800". blah, blah, blah. "I guess they didn't take into account Mars might have some dust"No, all NASA engineers are imbeciles. Two of my JPL friends worked on this project. They've never heard of dust. I just e-mailed them your remark so they can be more prepared next time. Thanks for your insight, Rob.

Only US companies with connections in Washington (read, lobbyists) can obtain government contracts. Hence, Kodak got it, and it was transferred to its receiving entity.I guess this 2 mpix sensor costs like million Sony 20mpix.

Year, living in DC and having many friends on federal contracts makes me think that.

The correct value for the transmission time (time from when it is sent to when it is received is) 11-13 minutes depending on the (min or max distance between Mars & Earth), according to the NASA webpage:

Mars is 12.7 light minutes away. This is where the 13 minute delay I got from the NASA boadcast during the landing. But that's probably right now, which may be a sort of average distance (in between the shortest and longest perhaps).

I'm not an engineer but these probes/rovers power is limited and refined to get every last bit of power for longevity. The energy consumption to send thousands of 20mp signal from mars to earth would probably be quite taxing on the power supply. 2mp probably gives them the needed resolution and optimum power savings.

They used Hasselblad on the moon because to bring the pics back to Earth, all NASA had to do was tell the astronauts to bring the film with them.

Curiosity is not coming back.

So what do you do? First you go digital of course, but then how do you get the images back to Earth? By the worst form of wi-fi you can imagine.

If you actually put a digital back on a Hasselblad, based on the data rates between Mars and Earth, you could wait days to weeks for a single image. There is no point. Or, you could think about the fact that if you did use up all available bandwidth for simple (albeit detailed) images, you are locking out science data transmission for the same amount of time.

Not to mention that the scientific orientation of the mission means that sometimes, visible light frequencies are NOT the priority. This isn't Ansel Adams on a romantic camping trip to the wilderness to make Art. This is about science on a budget. They cut the budget of Curiosity, by the way.

Apollo used Hasselblad cam? it didn't. but the astronauts did. it was Hasselblad film camera. so they just need to take home the developed film and the processing be done on earth.

it's a different case now with Curious. it is a robot, equipped with digital cameras. it needs to transfer the image wirelessly via satelite to earth station and it needs time. so bigger MP means longer transfer time.

if Curious uses Hasselblad 60MP cam, then I bet it will take a month just to transfer one image :)

I can understand that the distance between Mars and the Earth is so great that a transmission takes 3 minutes to arrive, but once the first signal has arrived, all subsequent signals from the same transmission should follow almost instantaneously, or at least at the same rate that the signals are being broadcast from Mars.

I'm sure the problem can't be that it would take too long to transmit a high-resolution image. I imagine the transmitter on Curiosity would be transmitting data continuously whenever it's in line with the receiving station in Australia.

Perhaps the problem is that the amount of time when it's possible to transmit data to Australia is fairly limited, due to the revolving nature of the planets, so a choice has to be made between the amount of scientific data, as opposed to image-quality data, that will be transmitted. The scientific data takes priority of course.

The correct value for the transmission time (time from when it is sent to when it is received is) 11-13 minutes depending on the (min or max distance between Mars & Earth), according to the NASA webpage:

Some of your reasoning, or perhaps your explanation is a bit off I'm afraid. No matter whether transmission is continuous or not (it isn't!), the greater the amount of information, the longer it takes to transmit. Period. However you are almost certainly correct about priority of non photo image data over photo image data.

The problem is not because of latency, bandwidth is not affected by latency, at least in one direction transfer. The problem is solely on the frig*ging power required to transmit the signal THIS FAR. You know, the electromagnetic signal is like light signal, they fade as square function of distance. So here you go, how much power do you need to establish a gigabit link between Earth and Mars? Probably more than they can get by solar power at that place.

At the time of the landing I heard or read 13 minutes (one way), so that is probably for the distance during the landing.. Just now I learned it varies between 4.3 and 21 minutes depending on the min or max Earth to Mars distance.

Curiosity doesn't have to transmit data directly to Earth, which I admit would be slow and power-consuming. It can transmit as much as 60 megabits in an 8 minute period to one of the existing satellites or orbiters in the vicinity of Mars.

For example, the Odyssey satellite has a line of sight to Earth for about 16 hours a day. If Curiosity were to send signals directly to Earth, it would be limited to 3 hours a day, due to power limitations.

Thanks for the logical explanations. Of course the bandwidth is quite low; I just read the article, noticed 2mp, and was really surprised without really thinking about why. Notice my original post was an honest question, not a complaint.

so many people are failing to realize that these images are coming from a set of camera that just happen it have 2mp sensors. Some cameras are for assessing navigational route options - where higher resolutions isn't needed. I'm willing to be they have other, higher MP cameras too.

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